Who Art Thou, God?

Oh Thou who sets in place

The morning, noon and night

Who cups the dawn in mercy’s palm

And spills its gold delight

Oh Thou, who fills the sky

With heaven-tenured strain

And tunes the earth with nature’s mirth

In myriad refrain

Oh Thou who holds the fount

Of Times four-season ken

And rends this span with Heaven’s plan

To test the hearts of men

Oh Thou who loves each one

Knowing intimately

What You have wrought; unscripted thought

Cannot be hid from Thee

Oh Thou; who art Thou, God

Who knows our secret pain?

Why this is He who sets us free

A Lamb for sinners slain

 

© Janet Martin

Love...an edited re-post

Love; such a heavy load to carry

We should give it away

Love; a pair of well-worn shoes

Because second miles can be unpredictably long

Love; a beautiful picture

But so unlike anything we visualized

Love; we give it as a gift

Never reminding the recipient of the cost

Love; refined by fire

Treasure the melting-pot

Love; a race with no earthly finish-line

Quitting is not an option

Love; never a vicious weapon

But a faithful shield

Love; patient and kind

A glimpse of God revealed

Love; the proof of God

In us

Love; in its suffering

It grows more beautiful

Love; the wonderful wonder

Of increase as we give

Love; it never steals

Cannot be stolen

Love; the epitome of ‘laying down self’

So we may stand tall

 

Love; because it is God

Never fails

© Janet Martin

Go Then...a Sunday Whirl on Monday

 

Sunday Whirl

Go then

Prove your point

Soon life will

Tenderly anoint

Your experience

With wisdom

Go then,

Stop your fuss

Life will remind you

Soon enough

Your miserable youth

Was sweet

Go then,

Wish and dream

The interest of hours

Does not esteem

One above

The other

Go then,

Once I too

Pranced restlessly

In a dreamer’s shoe

We all need to figure out

What to do

Go then

If you must

I am old

My dream-shoe is bust

One cannot be

A child again

Go then,

And God go

With you

You’re headed straight

For middle-age

Too

© Janet or Mom

Life's Vapor-gem

The chimes of time are pealing

Across the morning-tide

Dawn’s garnet blush is spilling

Its river to the sky

The little toil and trouble

That we must bear today

Is but a whisper-bubble

In Time’s incessant sway

A melody of moments

Is unleashed to the air

God’s testament of mercy

And love’s long-suffering care

We cannot gather hours

Or moments to our keep

This vapor-gem is ours

To fill before we sleep

And all that we can pray for

As we embrace its flow

Is that God’s love will guide us

As by His grace we go

© Janet Martin

Mothers and Fellers

It's Children's Hour at Poetic Bloomings

Mother tells me to clean my ears

To eat my greens

To wash my face

Mother tells me to pick up my toys

Be nice to my sister

And put things back in place

Mother tells me that worms ain’t fer pockets

And mother tells me

To let the frog go

Mother tells me I’m growin’ too fast

But I think I’m growin’

Awfully slow

Mother tells me to shush, baby’s sleepin’

But I was simply

Chasin’ my ball

Sometimes I think that mothers and fellers

Really don’t understand

Each other at all

Mother tells me to mind my manners

She tells me its bedtime

When it’s quarter-past noon

She says do your homework

Do your best, and remember

You’re gonna be a man someday soon

Mother tells me I’m her little sunshine

She tousles my hair

An’ hugs me real tight

She makes my favorite fruit cobbler for dinner

And she doesn’t scold me

When I snitch a wee bite

At bedtime she listens

And I tell her my thinkin’s

She smiles and tucks me in with my football

Well, maybe, perhaps mothers understand fellers

Just a weeny-teeny little bit

After all

© Janet Martin

Image Source

Of Love and Justice

God’s love beheld our hopeless state

Mankind born into sin

God’s justice knew the blood of rams

Could never wash us clean

God’s love offered His only Son

To die in our place

And through Him we are justified

As we are saved by grace

God’s Son did not come to this world

To offer condemnation

But Love and Justice gave Himself

To purchase our salvation

For Justice cannot look on sin

So Love offered a way

For every sinner to be clean

On that Great Judgment Day

God’s love beholds our hopeless state

Sin’s vile and curs-ed seed

But once for all He paid its price

As He died in our stead

God’s justice binds our debt of guilt

As we cry, I believe

God’s love beholds His Son’s blood spilt

As we His Gift receive

While man beheld His suffering

As Jesus bled and died

God saw beyond His offering

To sinners justified

And while men jeered in victory

Of Jesus crucified

God's love beheld Hope's finished work

Justice was satisfied

© Janet Martin

Who Can Explain Love...an edited re-post

Who can explain love?
This thing we give and give
Yet can never give too much of
Or get enough…..

It is not a mere emotion
For emotions rise and fall
While love serves with devotion
Standing faithful through it all

Who can explain this four-letter word?
Leaving us weak, making us strong
Soothing life's tempest, yet evoking
Our deepest passion stirred
In life’s greatest pleasure
And deepest pain
Yet, it seems we love without measure
And it is impossible to love in vain
Though we may love and lose….
We love again

There is none so rich that he does not need it
And none so poor that he cannot have it
Love’s stores are never depleted
Yet useless if we try to save it

In love we hold, kiss and embrace
In love we let go as tears cover our face
In love we leap, in love we fly
In love we live yet daily die

Who can explain love?
This many-splendor-ed desire
Mild as a cooing dove
Wild as a raging fire
Solid as a rock in the ocean
Yet soft as the mist on the sea
Is there any who can explain it?
This splendid mystery

Janet~

Ephemeral Immortality

Photo: Rushing to see what lies beyond the bend...

We were immortal

You and I

The universal equalizer

Was the alibi

Of those who simply

Let it slip

Youth’s effervescent thread

Would never

Languish in our grip

Yes,

That is what we said

But Time is a great Teacher

Its lessons

Keen and hard

Instructing mortal creature

With blatant

Disregard

For illusions of stubborn pride

Or foolish wantonness

It draws us in an ethereal tide

And bittersweet

Caress

We thought we were immortal

We were wrong

The echo of youth’s fancy-free

A jaded song

For we have joined

The meeker ranks

Of middle-age

Where now we turn

With humble thanks

Each

Gifted page

…but when we were immortal

It was bliss

The lure of life’s eternity

A rousing kiss

Spawning the dream

That taught us how

To fly with blind-faith trust

But now we see

Mortality

Life’s little

Dust to dust

For Time is a wise Teacher

She tutors patiently

Each child; we all are children

In lessons

On her knee

And she does not play favorites

Nor spare one from her touch

As we learn to live, laugh and love

And not

Worry

So much

© Janet Martin

I have another photo I took moments before this one with another story attached to it.